Online social networking has become a great way to connect with potential employers, and LinkedIn is a popular site for professionals and industry experts. Here are some important tips to maximize your LinkedIn profile and networking capabilities:

Completely fill out your profile

First thing you want to do is fill out your profile (with the exception of physical address, marital status and birthdate). Use your current resume to complete all the fields in your LinkedIn profile so that you stand out. Your profile should be concise yet comprehensive and include all your work experience and a professional looking head-shot.

Add Contacts

The power of LinkedIn lies with your contacts. You want to make sure you add people that you know, but it is important to spend time adding at least 25 contacts, closer to 100 is better.

Use LinkedIn Groups

Joining groups can connect you with others and provide a way for you to make yourself known in professional circles. Following group discussions is a great way to become familiar with the language and hot topics in your field.

Create a unique URL

For personal branding, attach everything on the web to your full name. LinkedIn has a high Google PageRank and offers the option to create a personal URL which can help increase your Google results.

Recommendations

Request recommendations from people that are able to speak to your professional abilities. Coworkers, professors and other professional or academic colleagues are examples of people who could write positive recommendations for you. These become public. Print them off and bring them to job interviews.

Linking

Use your LinkedIn profile URL on your traditional resume. Profiles are easy to read and are focused on your professional careers, so link your URL on Twitter, Facebook or any other network, website or blog to which you may subscribe.